Macworld Digital Magazine U.S. Reviews

by Davidb32

I was a MacWorld subscriber for many years until it went digital. I like printed magazines. I’m not such a tech nerd that EVERYTHING in my life has to be digital. I could read the printed magazine here, there, and everywhere without the need for a wi-fi connection, or an AC outlet with which to charge my reading device. After reading all of the recent reviews, the digital edition is apparently still lacking and it does not provide a reliable reading experience. You know, during the many years that I was a print edition subscriber, I never had a single problem with reading my printed MacWorld magazine. Translation: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. At the least, provide both the digital AND print editions again.

by Mutunus Tutunus

I am subscribed until February 2022 and can’t access issues beyond December 2020. I’ve read and followed the instructions. Support is useless. They tell me to sync my library and there is no such option.

by Old-hammer

Subscribed for a year. Spent a day trying to download and troubleshoot...no luck. Finally I just asked Apple to issue me a refund.

by Steve Davidson

I got a App Store subscription in Feb. 2019, and for the first few months, MacworldDigitalMagazineUS worked and I enjoyed the publication (I went digital after having a print subscription for a decade, at first it was through Zinio, but that was an exercise in frustration).

A few months ago, the Macworld magazine logged me out, and the “Restore Subscription” button did nothing (other than telling me that my purchase was being restored — but it never happens). I figured it was a temporary glitch, and tried again a week later. It has been several months, and the damned thing has never worked. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling MacworldDigitalMagazineUS , and it still fails.

I’ve tried the “App Support” link as seen in MacworldDigitalMagazineUS Store, and that doesn’t work (“This page is no longer available”).

I used to be big fan of this magazine, but this experience has me planning to terminate my subscription before it renews. The end of a long relationship.

I’m sure the editorial staff is still top notch, but whatever outfit they’ve gotten into bed with on the digital subscription side is totally bottom of the barrel.

What a shame.

by Frankc23

This has been going on for YEARS now. Fix MacworldDigitalMagazineUS , please.

by IGotmailYea

Please fix or give me a refund for the past year

by Ccsprague

Anytime you try to open a magazine to download it crashes MacworldDigitalMagazineUS .

by 172Capt

Update: latest update crashes constantly.

Works on my XS max on 13.2.3, but not on my iPad mini running 13.3...keeps giving me an error when I try to access my issues.

by Harrisj1234

App simply stopped working. A long-time subscriber, with the June update it became impossible to access the content I paid for. Followed all instructions, but couldn’t get magazines to download. A tech magazine should be able to manage this.

by Ilikebach

I just subscribed to Macworld on an iPad Pro 11 running iOS 13.3 and MacworldDigitalMagazineUS keeps crashing. How do I get a refund?

by Lake Crew

Please refund purchase price. No issue was made available— an account is requested with a password — which does not seem to relate to anything. Second or third bad experience with trying to subscribe to Macworld

by BigShemp

The latest Macworld update breaks MacworldDigitalMagazineUS if you’re trying to read in PDF page format (it’s just a blank screen) and the full-article text for,at sometimes leaves out whole articles. Please fix this! Oh, to have the old magazine back.

by Ghblue

I purchased a subscription and couldn’t even download the magazine! Tried to click on app support and the website said it had moved and wasn’t available! Good luck getting ahold of anyone at the company that owns Macworld. Good thing I had whiskey left at my bar...or you would get one star!

by ClunyTraveller

Basically I’ve enjoyed this mag for decades and the switch from Zinnio was an improvement. But I can’t find out when my subscription expires, either here or on the website.

by Saguaro737

I want to read off-line. MacworldDigitalMagazineUS doesn’t support that. Signing in to the Zinio version after many years required back and forth to customer service. They were helpful but that is no reason to make you log into. New version so exceedingly difficult. All news apps except this permit you to return to the page where you left. Here you either remember to bookmark or page back to the page. Content has deteriorated over the years, now the publisher seems more interested in making a quick buck from any sale rather than sticking to the quality reporting MacWorld and MacUser were famous for.

by Oblobo

Despite being subscribed until October of ‘21, I cannot seem to open recent issues without being asked to subscribe,😡😡😡 I did restart my iPad and still ...

by Harvey Yebubbleman

Works fine on my fourth generation Air and fifth generation mini. Can’t get it working on this third generation Wi-Fi only Air though.

by Arowe53

Downloading, restoring and even viewing the magazine on MacworldDigitalMagazineUS is not what it should be.

by GoofyFather

I agree with the others that MacworldDigitalMagazineUS and the corresponding app on PC World your sister publication are horrible!!! The videos don’t work at times. I have bought new iPads thinking it was my technology but, alas it is yours! I also have a digital subscription with consumer reports and their app is wonderful!! You should look at theirs!

by Cracof

As an avid reader/subscriber of Macworld for 20+ years this recent evolution to the digital sphere has been abominable. You would think that such a magazine discussing evolutionary Apple products would have perfected the transportation highway from print to digital. MacworldDigitalMagazineUS continuously crashes minutes into reading my issue. This is a complaint many readers have been complaining about for months without resolve.
Gaining access to my paid subscription on an iPad is difficult if not a complete failure. Further, I would prefer reading the magazine that is stored on some other server rather than being forced to download onto my devise taking valuable memory space. I do not recommend those interested in subscribing to Macworld to undertake this arduous task at the moment. I hope you are listening Customer Relations and taking these numerous complaints NOT to your boss but to the OWNERS of this magazine for their needed actions. I would prefer returning to the print edition style and pay a bit more for an annual subscription than to go through all of this. Please fix these problems or simply go out of business and let some other company succeed where you have fallen down.

by Boo1787

This is a crappy magazine app. The magazine is only available digitally, yet for a year and counting, MacworldDigitalMagazineUS doesn’t work. It requires the user to keep deleting and then reinstalling MacworldDigitalMagazineUS every time you want to open the issue. I’ve complained to them for over a year, and nothing gets fixed. It’s like the rolling stone mag app. Why is it so hard to get this fixed. If I have read an issue, then go back to read the rest of it, I have to delete MacworldDigitalMagazineUS and then reinstall it, log in again. This is the definition of a failed app. And the irony is rich that a Mac magazine can’t get their magazine app to work correctly on Mac hardware like an iPad. Yet the owners of the magazine sit idly by as their magazine, which is no longer available as print issues, looks like the developers who created it and are responsible for it’s maintenance are 90 year olds who are more proficient with Commodore 64 computers. This is super pathetic. But as usual, this complaint will fall on deaf 90 year old ears.

by Z25 MN6

It’s tough to assign a star rating to Macworld. On the one hand, it’s, well, Macworld. The content, writing, and editing ranges from above average to excellent. But the implementation of the iPad app that delivers that content is a disaster. Every page contains a popup ad at the bottom right that covers text of the article, and there is no way to get rid of it. So, if you want to read an article, just know that you will never see the final paragraph. Navigation between articles, and even pages of articles, is so difficult that it’s often easier to close MacworldDigitalMagazineUS and reopen it to move to another article. C’mob Macworld, you’re better than this. For a publication that pulls no punches (e.g., as I write this, there is a current article saying, “iTunes 12.2 is a disaster”), it would be nice to see you getting your own house in order before asking users to believe you criticism of someone else's.

by D. Hill

The Macworld Digital Magazine application makes it easy for consumers of the publication to get access to monthly issues whether by monthly, yearly subscription or single issue purchase. Upon launch MacworldDigitalMagazineUS takes you to the main page which is divided up into the magazine store and your issues. If you are a current subscriber or have a account with Macworld you can view and/or restore issues purchased in the past in the your issues section. Users of other digital magazine applications will be familiar with the layout in terms of being to make purchases, preview issues and more. The archive is solid with issues dating back to early 2012 for purchase. It would be nice though if the archive would be extended to not just more years in the past but special issues as well such as ones covering the death of Steve Jobs. MacworldDigitalMagazineUS is unique in that it allows you to access the Macworld You Tube Channel from inside. With You Tube channels being an important part of branding and customer engagement these days it is nice for applications to provide quick access to them.

by Imaginal

Believe what you read in all these other very bad reviews. MacworldDigitalMagazineUS interface is awful. I have had to call MacWorld for each issue of the last 6 months just to be able to download. And the content has slipped as well. There is still enough good reading there to make me regret my decision to cancel my subscription, but not enough to change my mind. After so many years of enjoyable print magazines, and a few months of decent digital, I'm saying goodbye to all the hassle.

Edit-June 1, 2017
Just got email notice that with the June issue there is a major change in format in the Macworld magazine. I had no problem with downloading this time. I am hoping this fix is as good as it looks from my initial experiences. I wish that customer service, with whom I spoke every month for last six as mentioned above, had told me that a fix was coming. I might have been a little more tolerant and patient. Adding back a couple of stars.

by DMastros

So I've just recently grabbed an iPad and was kind of skeptical about the whole magazine thing. Nevertheless, I tried a couple out and this was one of them. MacWorlds digital magazine is far superior than the majority of other mags out there. High quality visuals; nice interactivity; some external/shopping links embedded (would like to see more of that). I do not have a print subscription but I'd feel the same as many of the other reviewers if I did (hence the 4 stars instead of 5). Come on y'all, stop being greedy and give a 1/2 off discount for those with current print subscriptions! Small bottom line reduction in revenue but happy, long-term, loyal customers who tell there friends about it. Now, that being said, this is one digital mag subscription I'll be keeping.

by NewGDfan

I have several digital magazine subscriptions, and this is probably the best and most enjoyable to use, making great use of the digital medium. The one-star reviews are misguided and even silly. Yes, there is no landscape mode, but who needs it? Furthermore, this is a true digital layout, not reproduction of the actual page layouts where you may want to see a double-page spread. And as for the complaint that there is no zoom, again, who needs it? This is probably the most comfortable read I know. You don't need any zoom option! Try it and you'll see. I never bought the print version, so I came to this digital version without any hang-ups or preconceptions. This is an outstanding digital magazine and the subscription price is amazing. Some of these one-star reviews make you stop and wonder about the people writing them. Really.